DAVID HOCKNEY

“If the Egyptian army had started shooting at the crowd in Tahrir Square,” says David Hockney, “it would have been hard to keep that secret because people had mobile phones. They could have described what was happening by text and sent a picture. That is, confirmation.”Right now, we are seeing just such images of state violence in Libya.There has been plenty of debate about the causes of the events rippling across the Middle East. The basic factors, of course, are the courage, anger and frustration of the populations involved. Social media such as Facebook and Twitter are believed to have played a role in spreading information. Hockney, as a visual artist, suggests another important element is involved: namely, pictures.
Indeed, he sees pictures -- or, to be precise, control of the display and distribution of images -- as an overlooked factor in history. Hockney, 73, argues that this always has been a source of political and religious power.

-Bloomberg